Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

Yeah, I missed that they were the sole engineer. That changes things dramatically.

> OP is more valuable than a toilet cleaner, or a starbucks barista

Not to kill your point, but those two are dramatically under-valued and under-appreciated jobs in most societies around the world. Every time you use a toilet (other than the one in your home) which is hopefully clean, somebody had cleaned it recently. Imagine they hadn't. You'd have a terrible day. Every time you go grab a good Starbucks coffee. Maybe even sit down in a comfy sofa to be able to enjoy it. Imagine the barista had screwed it up.

Both experiences make a huge difference in people's lives. Hundreds if not thousands a day. Every day. But they are paid crap and talked about in the way you just did. Compare that to a coder churning away meaningless features in some meaningless app. Would I care if the coder wouldn't show up to work for the next 4 weeks with nobody stepping in their place? No. That answer is decisively different for the toilet cleaner and the barista.

I actually believe that working long hours is a huge problem that obscures natural creativity in people. When you are spending hours in the same environment, it's difficult to have a breather and think about something original or new -- you need to have a proper break for that. Going for a long walk/hike, completely detaching from work, talking to other people about non-work related stuff usually gives me a perspective and organises and cleans my thoughts when I get back to working. Diversifying your pastime activities also may help in inciting creative thinking, just like meeting people with diverse backgrounds.

It seems to me that you probably already have skill and knowledge, but it looks like you need more inspiration? Cutting down on your working hours won't make you dumb, but may just make you a bit happier.

This is one of the most famous burnout stories, hah

> Then I had another thought: Physics disgusts me a little bit now, but I used to enjoy doing physics. Why did I enjoy it? I used to play with it. I used to do whatever I felt like doing - it didn't have to do with whether it was important for the development of nuclear physics, but whether it was interesting and amusing for me to play with. When I was in high school, I'd see water running out of a faucet growing narrower, and wonder if I could figure out what determines that curve. I found it was rather easy to do. I didn't have to do it; it wasn't important for the future of science; somebody else had already done it. That didn't make any difference. I'd invent things and play with things for my own entertainment.

> So I got this new attitude. Now that I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything, I've got this nice position at the university teaching classes which I rather enjoy, and just like I read the Arabian Nights for pleasure, I'm going to play with physics, whenever I want to, without worrying about any importance whatsoever.

> Within a week I was in the cafeteria and some guy, fooling around, throws a plate in the air. As the plate went up in the air I saw it wobble, and I noticed the red medallion of Cornell on the plate going around. It was pretty obvious to me that the medallion went around faster than the wobbling.

> [snip]

> It was effortless. It was easy to play with these things. It was like uncorking a bottle: Everything flowed out effortlessly. I almost tried to resist it! There was no importance to what I was doing, but ultimately there was. The diagrams and the whole business that I got the Nobel Prize for came from that piddling around with the wobbling plate.

- https://www.asc.ohio-state.edu/kilcup.1/262/feynman.html

I felt in a similar way despite feeling valuated at work, with good salary and working no more than the time I was paid for. I am now feeling better and the thing for me was: 1) changing job to get out of comfort zone 2) realized I had burnt my main hobby after more than 10 years (coding/computers) so I had to start from scratch looking for other things to do on my free time.

Current hobbies: bonsai trees (joined a local club), going to the gym, getting back to indoor climbing... The more social and physical the better for me (I thought for a long time I was more a lonely person than social but apparently that's not completely true).